Monday, April 19, 2010

State of the Indians – stroke of the pen? (Malaysiakini)


malaysiakini — April 10, 2010 — It’s been just over two years since the March 08 general election that saw the opposition capturing the states of Kedah, Penang, Selangor and retaining Kelantan.
The opposition loose coalition calling themselves Pakatan Rakyat which comprises of PKR, DAP and PAS also swept to victory in the state of Perak, but leter defections by three of their state representatives saw them lose the state to the Barisan Nasional.
In our attempts to look into the state of Indian affairs two years after the Pakatan victories we talk to community leaders for their assessment of the PR performance because it was on the back of Indian anti-BN sentiments and votes that resulted in the opposition victories.
In this segment we talk to K Arumugam who is MPSJ counsillor and human rights activist and P Uthayakumar who, with his brother Waythamoorthy led the November 25 2007 Hindraf rally that saw 30,000 (some say) ethnic Indians gather at the KLCC to demand their rights as citizens of the country.